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Earlier this year, my adrenal fatigue caused me to hit rock bottom. I went from being able to manage my extreme tiredness…to full on crashing. I had no choice but to stop everything and take care of myself. If you’re exhibiting signs of adrenal fatigue, don’t wait to crash like I did! It makes recovery much longer (and harder!). Regardless of what stage of adrenal fatigue you are in, these tips will help you heal more quickly.

Tip #1: Get as much sleep as possible – I recently attended an adrenal fatigue workshop at TriPower Yoga in San Diego. The facilitator, Melanie, was an adrenal fatigue expert (she also had struggled with it herself). She said the best thing you could do for yourself if you are struggling with adrenal fatigue is to squeeze in more sleep. This can be easier said than done, but she said to lie in bed for as long as you possibly can each day. If you have any extra time on your hands, spend it in bed. We heal our adrenals at a much faster rate while we are sleeping.

Tip #2: Eat small meals frequently – Adrenal fatigue can really mess with your digestion because it literally shuts it down. I know eating small meals more frequently can seem like a pain in the butt, but you’ll find yourself having more energy. This is because your body will be more easily able to digest the food you are eating because there isn’t a ton to digest. Instead of just 2-3 meals a day, try to stretch it to 6 snacks. As an added bonus, this also increases your metabolism, which will help you lose the weight you have gained as a result of your adrenal fatigue.

Tip #3: Let go of intense exercise – A lot of the women I work with that struggle with adrenal fatigue love intense exercise. Unfortunately, intense exercise can really stress out your adrenals and create the opposite effect of what you’re looking for (less energy, weight gain, etc.). A good rule to follow is that if you feel more tired after exercising than before you started, you are stressing your adrenals out too much. To help you recover from your adrenal fatigue, you have to temporarily let go of intense exercise. Don’t worry, you can still exercise (more on that in tip #4).

Tip #4: Practice restorative yoga – Restorative yoga was my savior when it came to my healing process. While it was hard giving up my more intense forms of exercise, I had no choice (my muscles literally started catabolizing due to my adrenal fatigue). Restorative yoga helps put you in the parasympathetic nervous system, which helps heal your adrenals. It also gives you an opportunity to meditate and connect with your body. Often times we manifest adrenal fatigue because we are disconnected from our bodies. A regular yoga practice will help you restore your connection to your body. What a gift!

Tip #5: Forgive yourself – This one was a hard one for me to do when I crashed. I had to forgive myself for letting my adrenal fatigue get as bad as it did. Instead of beating myself up, I had to take the lessons I learned from the experience. Of course some days it was easier to do that than others. Remember that self-forgiveness is an ongoing process…some days you will be feeling it and other days you won’t. Try your best to be kind to yourself, as self-compassion and love will help you heal your adrenal fatigue more quickly.

Tip #6: Let go of unnecessary stress – Many of the women I work with have a tendency to put more on their plate than they can realistically handle because they don’t want to let anyone down. Take a look at your life…what are you choosing to do that is creating stress in your life? Releasing the need to do everything yourself, letting go of things you can’t control, and saying “no” to every request of your time and energy is a great place to start. If you need help with this, I can definitely help you work on this during a 1:1 session.

Tip #7: Cut down (or eliminate) caffeine – I put this one last because I haven’t fully mastered this one, but it is very important. When we drink caffeine, it releases stress hormones that cause our adrenals to fatigue. While it can be hard to eliminate caffeine completely (especially because it’s usually a source of artificial energy when our lives are stressed), even cutting down a little bit can be helpful. Keep cutting down until you have eliminated caffeine completely (or only have it on rare occasions). This is one of the best things you can do for your adrenals!

Now over to you…have you struggled with adrenal fatigue? What are your tips for getting over it? I’d love to hear your answers in the comments below!